


Downtime

by GlassesOfJustice



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 06:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17503724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassesOfJustice/pseuds/GlassesOfJustice
Summary: Missing scene fromHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:Hermione catches up with her friends after Christmas break.





	Downtime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> I hope you have a lovely birthday and a fabulous year ahead.

Hermione had already settled in to her room to unpack when she heard Lavender and Parvati lugging their trunks through the door. The Knight Bus had beat the Hogwarts Express to school. She picked up her tea from the side table and took a sip. She gave a passing thought to how novel tea-stirring charms were to her-only just a few years ago. 

“Hey, Hermione,” Lavender said.

“We didn’t see you on the train. How was your ski trip?” Parvati asked after her.

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t end up going skiing with my parents.” Hermione said, a bit cagey.

“You didn’t?!” Lavender and Parvati asked in unison.

“No,” Hermione lowered her voice to a whisper, “after Mr. Weasley was attacked, it just seemed best if I spent Christmas with Ron’s family and Harry.”

The other girls nodded their agreement. 

Hermione said excitedly, "But, we took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts!”

Both girls dropped their trunks by their beds and came closer to Hermione. Parvati’s curiosity peaked, “What is the Knight Bus like?”

“Oh, it’s not terribly exciting. A bit of a wild ride, but much quicker than the train. No food cart, though that’s probably for the best…” Hermione trailed off thinking about Madam Marsh. She shook her head trying to shake the memory, and changed the subject. “So, how was your holiday?”

“Pretty boring,” Lavender offered first, “I did sleep a lot though.” She shrugged.

“My parents gave Padma and me matching pajamas again; they still think we are twelve.” Parvati rolled her eyes, but Hermione knew what it was like to get something comforting, but that you weren’t supposed to like, her sweaters from Molly, for example. They made her feel a part of the group, less self conscious for being the only Muggle-born among them. 

Parvati continued, “It was nice to spend more time with Padma though, we don’t hang out much when we are here.”

Hermione pulled her new copy of _New Theory of Numerology_ out of her bag and before she put it on her shelf decided to showed it to her friends. It wasn’t Divination so they probably wouldn’t be that interested, but Hermione felt like sharing her excitement with them. “Look what Harry bought me for Christmas,” she said, holding the book out.

“Nice,” they said in unison and then looked at each other and giggled. Hermione wasn’t that close with any other girls, except maybe Ginny, but they certainly didn’t jinx each other nearly as much as Lavender and Parvati.

“I wish we had boys giving us presents,” Lavender said looking forlornly at Parvati.

“Even if it is just _Harry_ ,” Parvati added. 

They all laughed at that.

“Do you know when the D.A. is going to start up again?” Lavender asked. “I didn’t get to practice very much and I’m itching to get back to learning something useful.”

“I don’t,” Hermione offered, “but maybe we’ll see Harry and Ron down at dinner, and we can ask. Are you two hungry? I’m starved.”

“Yes, let me just unpack my trunk and we can go down?” Parvati said.

“Yeah, same,” Lavender said turning to open her trunk.

“Right then. I’ll just flip through this while I’m waiting for you.”

Hermione cracked her new book and mindlessly thumbed pages, but didn’t really read any of it. She was worried about Harry and the Order. He was so stubborn sometimes. She was going to have a talk with Ron after dinner about helping to make sure Harry stuck with his Occlumency.

“Ready?” Parvati asked.

Hermione snapped her book closed and shoved it on the shelf. “After you,” she said, and followed them down to the common room.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to my wife and [Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_plaid_slytherin) for their awesome alpha and beta work.


End file.
